Sophia Scriptura

Church History 3.6.14

Eusebius of Caesarea · Church History · ca. 300–325 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Josephus (quoted): the rebels robbed the dead, tested their swords on the dying, and refused the mercy of a quick death.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:92

τυμβωρυχοῦντες γοῦν τὰς οἰκίας ἐσύλων τοὺς νεκροὺς, καὶ τὰ καλύμματα τῶν σωμάτων περισπῶντες μετὰ γέλωτος ἐξῄεσαν, τάς τε ἀκμὰς τῶν ξιφῶν “ἐδοκίμαζον ἐν τοῖς πτώμασι, καί τινας τῶν ἐρριμμένων ἔτι ζῶντας διήλαυνον, ἐπὶ πείρᾳ τοῦ σιδήρου, τοὺς δὲ ἱκετεύοντας χρῆσαι σφίσι δεξιὰν καὶ ξίφος, τῷ λιμῷ κατέλιπον ὑπερηφανοῦντες. καὶ τῶν ἐκπνεόντων ἕκαστος ἀτενὲς εἰς τὸν ναὸν ἐφεώρα, τοὺς στασιαστὰς ζῶντας ἀπολιπών.

English · Claude translation

For breaking into the houses as though they were tombs, they robbed the dead, tore the coverings off the bodies, and went out laughing; they tested the points of their swords on the corpses, and ran through some of those lying there who were still alive, to try the steel; while those who begged them to lend them a hand and a sword they left to the famine in contempt. And each of those who were expiring gazed fixedly toward the temple, leaving the rebels alive.

About this passage

Source
Dindorf 4:92 · Wilhelm Dindorf, ed., Eusebii Caesariensis Opera, vol. 4: Historiae ecclesiasticae libri I–X (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871) · Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 4. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Teubner, 1871); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1 (1890) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Extrabiblical texts
  • Josephus, J.W. 5.516–517 (Josephus (works)) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • Quotation from Josephus, J.W. 5.516–517.

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.6.14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/6/14/).

Plain text
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.6.14 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/3/6/14/).

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